(Spoiler) About amaurots downfall

[Alleo]

Now, I might be crazy, but to me it sounds like he's suggesting that without Zodiark's return the Sound might come back. (Granted this is coming from an Ascian and was written like, what, five, six years ago... but even so...)

I am not sure if that is the case. They are still tempered and of course want her gone. And she did warp the laws of existence, so maybe his speech was more about her doing that and keeping it that way. Of course there could be more to it but then why would that source of the voice even still exist? Wouldnt Zodiark rewriting the laws of existence not take care of that?

(He also calls Zodiark the one true god, which is quite ironic since he is a primal and not a god.)

[Rosenstrauch]

Perhaps he believes that Hydaelyn will continue to fracture the world into more and more shards, until none can sustain life? She wouldn't actually do that as far I know, but I wouldn't put it past Lahabrea to believe it.

[Eyvind]

Hmm I wonder what happened with the source of the sound?
I think it was only said that zodiark fixed the chain reaction the sound caused but not the source of it itself, correct me If I am wrong.
If zodiark didn't destroy it ,then its really bad cause it would either have been split up too or its on another shard.

Since we don't know the source of the "sound," and we don't know what Zodiark did to stop it, this is entirely possible.

Of course, there are those who think Zodiark existed in some form before his summoning as a primal...what Hydaelyn says of Zodiark becoming ambitious and wanting to imbalance everything makes more sense if he plotted his embodiment, and that he used his limited powers before to make the sound, trigger a misuse of creation magics, and force the Ascians to embody him to solve a problem he created. If that's how it was, then the solution to the sound would be to just stop making it.

On the other hand, I sometimes wonder if the origin of the sound was something Lahabrea made that escaped Akadaemia Anyder. In which case like Archaeotania, yes indeed it could still be out there somewhere.

Since the "sound" seemed to use the Ascians' own creation magics to construct monsters to kill them, then it's possible that the origin point is still wandering around out there, and we'd never know. It would be unable to affect things. After all, its weapon was its enemies' weapons, and ordinary people don't have that can wellspring of power it can use against them.

EDIT: The more I think on it, the more I wonder. If the "Sound" or its origin point was not Zodiark, and not destroyed, then it could not only be around but it could be someone or something we've interacted with before. After all, if it has no powers but to use the powers of the Ancients against them, then it would only be dangerous or perhaps even recognized by them. It might not even affect sundered Ascians. A million hyur, mi'qote, roegadyn, lalafell, au ra, elezen, viera, and hrothgar could have traipsed by it, stumbled over it, chatted with it (if it's a sentient creature) and we would never know.

If that's the case, my money is on it being something we've previously interacted with, if only because the logic of a story demands that "the horror hidden in plain sight" must have actually been seen before by the audience.

[Alleluia]

You know, I’m not on the "Hydaelyn is evil" train, but...

We’ve all interacted with her, so she fits the role of Chekov’s Gun. She puts an emphasis on hearing with her both her song and her “hear, feel, think” mantra (and one could put a sinister spin on “think” and “feel” when we’re talking about summoning up subconscious fears). And i think Answers did actually canonically echo throughout the overworld during 1.0’s end? (I wanna say its there in a coil cutscene. But can’t recall) And one could argue the sound in Amaurot’s time was sundering creation in a way, though not exactly how she does.

To completely tin foil hat this, could it be possible Hydaeyn was the embodiment of the sound/soundmaker? Maybe retooled by the summoner’s will, maybe not. Would depend on if the sound was intentionally sinister or if fears being summoned was an unintentional side effect cus fear just reacted more readily than anything else. Also its possible that Zodiark was doing shenanigans in the aethereal sea and the sound was Hydaelyn’s response that went awry, or something he forced out of her, or any number of scenarios that allow her to still not be an evil liar who lies.

I doubt any of the above is a thing, but theories are fun.

[Daralii]

You know I’m not on the hydaelyn is evil train, but...

We’ve all interacted with her so she fits the role of Chekov’s Gun. She puts an emphasis on hearing with her both her song and her “hear, feel, think” mantra (and one could put a sinister spin on “think” and “feel” when we’re talking about summoning up subconscious fears). And i think Answers did actually canonically echo throughout the overworld during 1.0’s end? (I wanna say its there in a coil cutscene. But can’t recall) And one could argue the sound in Amaurot’s time was sundering creation in a way, though not exactly how she does.

To completely tin foil hat this, could it be possible Hydaeyn was the embodiment of the sound/soundmaker? Maybe retooled by the summoner’s will, maybe not. Would depend onif the sound was intentionally sinister or if fears being summoned was an unintentional side effect cus fear just reacted more readily. Also its possible that zodiark was doing shenanigans inthe aethereal sea and the sound was hydaelyn’s response that went awry, or something he forced out of her, or any number of scenarios that allow her to still not be an evil liar who lies.

I doubt any of the above is a thing, but theories are fun.

A haunting version of Answers played when Dalamud was reaching the end of its descent, but I don't know if that's meant to be a canon occurrence or not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgEg8kXmifo

[Alleluia]

A haunting version of Answers played when Dalamud was reaching the end of its descent, but I don't know if that's meant to be a canon occurrence or not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgEg8kXmifo

Yeah, I'm trying to remember the cutscene I'm thinking about now. I recall seeing a cutscene in-game in 2.x of a flashback to that "end of 1.0" time period and you can hear Answers in the background. And my thinking there is that other flashbacks don't have their location specific BGM play as far as I know, so maybe it was actually happening. Even if echo-users might have been the only ones who could hear it. But I just can't remember where the scene I'm thinking of is. Maybe its the start of the flashback of Carteneau Fields? The part that's pre-Bahamut. I have to check. Perhaps its just my brain recalling those youtube videos I've seen of the end of 1.0, though. So maybe that point in my "theory" is a dud.

[Eyvind]

I also doubt Hydaelyn was the sound or soundmaker, but with tinfoil hat attached we are looking for something that...

...is small enough to have required time to travel (it went from "across the pond" to Amaurot

...ended its days in Amaurot, which is close to Limsa

...would be a creature Zodiark contained...and the universal sign in fantasy that something is "contained but still a threat" is that it is turned to stone or encased in stone

...exists in both the Source and the Shard, split like anything else

...in the true manner of a Chekhov's gun, both repeatedly drawn attention to and made inconspicuous (say a part of the landscape important as a seat of government in two worlds, or the site of a recent story that mentions how far down it goes under the surface)

Funny how the main spike of stone in Limsa and Eulmore is the only obvious feature to survive on both worlds, and funny how it looks more like a horn than a natural rock formation.

Also with Hydaelyn weakened and Zodiark trapped, any contained creature would have little trouble breaking free, I bet, with enough rejoinings.

< /tinfoil hat>

[Edax]

I also doubt Hydaelyn was the sound or soundmaker, but with tinfoil hat attached we are looking for something that...

...is small enough to have required time to travel (it went from "across the pond" to Amaurot

...ended its days in Amaurot, which is close to Limsa

...would be a creature Zodiark contained...and the universal sign in fantasy that something is "contained but still a threat" is that it is turned to stone or encased in stone


< /tinfoil hat>

Not necessarily. From what I gathered in Amaurot's quests, the Ancients power of creation works much like the sphere from Sphere (1998) or the gravity drive from Event Horizon. Once The Ancients had heard the sound, they could have manifested horrors with their own imagination. These horrors would have been manifested into reality because of the Ancient's ability to create life so it would be these creations that could travel "across the pond", disrupting the concentration of the Amaurotians and causing themselves to give into terror. It could be the insane Ancients themselves broke down the laws of reality when they succumbed to madness and used their creation magic. Zodiark may (or may not) have just rewrote the laws of reality because damaged by the Ancients themselves and not by some "creature".

Whatever the cause of the sound seems unknown since you'd think Emet would mention what was the cause of their woe when trying to be remembered. This could have just been the cause of a feedback loop, where a mad Ancient spawns a horror so terrifying that it causes the Ancients to give into terror and spawn more terrors. We learn in the Amaurot's quests that even a slight distraction could cause the creation to be fundamentally warped, like giving a lion some eagle wings because an eagle flew by.

[Alleluia]

I also doubt Hydaelyn was the sound or soundmaker, but with tinfoil hat attached we are looking for something that...

...is small enough to have required time to travel (it went from "across the pond" to Amaurot

...ended its days in Amaurot, which is close to Limsa

...would be a creature Zodiark contained...and the universal sign in fantasy that something is "contained but still a threat" is that it is turned to stone or encased in stone

...exists in both the Source and the Shard, split like anything else

...in the true manner of a Chekhov's gun, both repeatedly drawn attention to and made inconspicuous (say a part of the landscape important as a seat of government in two worlds, or the site of a recent story that mentions how far down it goes under the surface)

Funny how the main spike of stone in Limsa and Eulmore is the only obvious feature to survive on both worlds, and funny how it looks more like a horn than a natural rock formation.

Also with Hydaelyn weakened and Zodiark trapped, any contained creature would have little trouble breaking free, I bet, with enough rejoinings.

< /tinfoil hat>

This reminds me. I do wish I'd remembered to ask in the Q&A thread if there was a reason that Limsa and Eulmore looked so similar. It implies that the basic structure, or at least the architectural style, is actually pre-sundering. Assuming it wasn't just an artistic choice, of course. Oh, well. Maybe Banri Oda will be able to escape his tower again soon and we can ask more questions.

[Edax]

This reminds me. I do wish I'd remembered to ask in the Q&A thread if there was a reason that Limsa and Eulmore looked so similar. It implies that the basic structure, or at least the architectural style, is actually pre-sundering. Assuming it wasn't just an artistic choice, of course. Oh, well. Maybe Banri Oda will be able to escape his tower again soon and we can ask more questions.

I got the impression it's just the result of being an alternate of the prime dimension. These worlds are referred to as "reflections" so I'm guess they intentionally made the styles similar since the geography is almost identical minus what damage the cataclysms did.